Most Digital Content Not Stable

brunes69 writes "The CBC is running an article profiling the problems with archiving digital data in New Brunswick's provincial archives. Quote from the story: 'I've had audio tape come into the archives, for example, that had been submerged in water in floods and the tape was so swollen it went off the reel, and yet we were able to recover that. We were able to take that off and dry it out and play it back. If a CD had one-tenth of one per cent of the damage on one of those reels, it wouldn't play, period. The whole thing would be corrupted'. Given the difficulties with preserving digital data, is it really the medium we should be using for archival purposes?"

Comments

They could try harder

[Waffle Iron]

The CD wouldn't play with an off-the-shelf CD player. That doesn't mean that a special "archaeological" CD player can't be built that would perform extensive microscopic image analysis of the disk surface in order to read the data in the face of extensive corruption.

Some analog technologies, like old color films, have also degraded and need image enhancement to recover the original content.

1% = Total Loss?

[JesseL]

If losing 1% of the data on a CD means the data is a total loss, doesn't that say to you that you should be using a file system and data formats with more redundancy and parity?

Of course for the ultimate in durable electronically readable storage you should be burning everything to PROMs.

Remember the "Domesday Book"

[hopbine]

In the 1980's they digitized the Domesday Book. Trouble was the format they used is now obsololete. The good news (apart from still having the origional) they have re-inveted the wheel. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2534391.stm for details.

data type is more important than medium

[benmoreassynt]

This is a dual problem:

1) Digital data needs to be moved about once every 5 years onto a new physical store, disk, whatever. Think of the amount of data sitting around on floppy disks that is being lost as we speak.

2) Data has to be recorded in a way that that presumes whatever software you use to create it will not exist in the future. Anyone who saved their life's work in some ancient binary word processor file will know what I mean. For most computer-based data storage that requires data be stored somewhere in plain text, and using as open a format of 'markup' as possible, if any.

In effect, from a historical/archival point of view, data does not exist unless it is kept in at least two places at all times, and unless whatever bit of software you use to create it can also save it in a non-binary format of some sort for access for future generations who don't have a copy of your software.

Ok, that does not pertain to sound recordings or images, but even then some sort of 'permanent' standard is essential for all data.

I used to work with medieval documents written on vellum - sheep skin. The original Domesday book was written on vellum, and is as readable today as it was in 1150. (It also doesn't need a power supply to work!) Meanwhile the digital 'Domesday' Laser Disk made in the early 80s in the UK had to be saved from oblivion a few years ago (with a great deal of work) because the computers and hardware that it was created to work with were utterly obselete. Fortunately, and unusually, someone realised the problem before it was too late.